ILLINIWrestlingBlog

You have hurt my imagination. On another note, the "Gold Medal Race" is the way NBC decided to promote a kind of horse-race for the Olympics. There was no race for total medals, so they had to figure out something else. I think it demeans Silver and Bronze, which are incredible achievements, and I think it is pretty cynical, and way too Ricky Bobby. With that said, the defending Gold Medalist USA just got crushed by Italy in the Women's volleyball final. On a final note, I am disappointed with the medal haul in wrestling, especially with no Russia here. I think the Americans gave their all, but it came down to some bad draws and some meh draws that turned out to be bad matchups. There are a lot of young lions in our country, though, who will be the stars of the next generation; kids who have already won age-group world medals. We'll be back. With that said, good day, and thanks to D3 and the rest of you. I went through about 200 "Bob Doles" and "LOLs" and "Fires" and other reactions over the games because y'all brought yourself to the party.

Head up, Kennedy Blades, you are awesome.

I forgot my Peacock password, so I'm relying on you D3. The whole weight of the world is on your strong shoulders!

And in other Iowa-related news, we told you that Iowa artists only worked in the butter and animal fat medium. Well, below is additional proof, a butter statue of Caitlin Clark. We swear we did not do anything to this photo. It is 100% original. If I were Spencer Lee, I'd beg them not to make a butter statue of me. Either pony up for some metal, or just forget about it:

What a crazy match! You can always expect Cornell to litigate their wrestling matches, but you don't usually see the litigation take place on the mat. DAKE AND CORNER: "We Challenge!" HEAD REF: "Denied." DAKE AND CORNER: "Oh, no, no, no, no, we STRENUOSLY Challenge!" HEAD REF: "Overruled and here's another point for your opponent. Challenge LOST!" But then after the courtroom theatrics, Dake with another top meme of the Games with his throw in the last few seconds. Well done! USA!

Wow! I think the Kennedy Blades camp now has my two favorite memes from these Olympics. Kennedy with the 5-pointer is number one, for sure, and her coach, Izzy Martinez with the celebration after the semifinal win, jumping into Terry Steiner's arms. The face, the excitement, it was like he just unwrapped a PlayStation Christmas morning. GO USA! GO ILLINOIS!

Haha! That's what I was talking about except I thought the Gold went to the USA. Nationalism? Glad to see the video. The innocence on display is very cool. Also, the peer pressure. Cheers!

There was a meme on Twitter that showed three photographs of the same three medalists on the podium in a sport other than wrestling. The first photo showed the American gold medalist biting down on her medal, while the silver and bronze medalists watched. The second photo showed the silver medalist still watching the American biting down and so she bit down on hers. At the same time the Asian medalist who got the bronze was watching both of them with a quizzical look on her face. But with a little trepidation, she bit down on hers as well. It's peer pressure, D3! I don't want to seem like the medal police, but I say it's okay as long as you don't bite down on somebody else's medal.

Helen with the :24 pin! Beautiful. GOAT!

Lee's strength stopped Higuchi's quickness on that low single. Match came down to one of the greatest scrambles in an Olympic final. A scramble that happened super quickly, but my brain processed, "Advantage Lee, Advantage Higuchi, Advantage Lee, Advantage Higuchi." Crazy stuff. I am entertained.

Sad that Kayla Miracle is out. But 62 kg on the Women's side has been the most entertaining weight at the Olympics so far. Just crazy last-second heroics and beautiful wrestling. They're doing Spencer commercials now. Get ready!

I'm going to use up all my Bob Doles and Fires and LOLs again today. Board's been on fire! Have to save some reactions for Spencer's match and the commentary here, though. Cheers!

P.S. I did try the snipping tool. Screen went black. Never happened to me before. Good suggestion, though!

Look at Kayla's left shoulder blade. Where is it pointing? Never got to 90 degrees, and it certainly didn't go past 90 degrees, which is what the rule requires. Seen it a million times: Wrestlers are rolling on the mat and torque their bodies to keep from going past 90 degrees. That's what happened here. And it wasn't feet to back, as they spun around. Nope, it was 2 takedown, challenge WON! And it was certainly a good challenge by the staff given the time remaining. Plus, in the video, they were right there on that side of the mat. They had a better view of the angle of the shoulder blades. Cheers!

Haha! I defer to The MPhillips on this one. Cheers! It was amazing, though. Best combo technique of the tournament. Smooth, continuous, but brutal movements between techniques.

The replay is already up of Kayla Miracle's match. I tried to take screen captures of the so-called "four-pointer" and challenge that cost her the match. Unfortunately, NBC and Peacock have developed software that makes the screen go black when you try to do a screen capture. Then, I tried to capture it with video. Same result. I understand anti-piracy, but that's kinda bullshit. It goes too far. There is a thing called "Fair Use," and I've paid for their services. Anyway, I finally had to use my phone to take pictures of my laptop screen, and in my opinion, that was an excellent challenge from the American coaches. The challenge should have won. KGZ gets a takedown, no exposure. Even the head judge, as I noted before, sounded unsure of himself, when he's been very adamant about his calls all tournament. Anyway, here's the evidence, the pictures:

WTF is a head cradle? A head cradle with his legs. He used his legs to hold the guys head down, which in turn held his back to the mat for the pin. Was beautiful!

MOVE OF THE MEET: The Dake Bomb to Head Cradle using Legs. REASONS: It came against Iran, and it looked cool. Ended the match with a pin on top of an exclamation point!

The challenge cost her the match, no doubt, but that was a very good challenge. There was zero amplitude on that "throw," and she was never exposed. Should NOT have been a four-point technique for KGZ. Even the judge making the call did not sound sure of himself. Not the usual "Challenge LOST." More of a "challenge lost."

Dake bomb to head cradle! LOL! Dake with the pin. Miracle almost had a miracle comeback, but lost by criteria, 6-6. Good fight in her!

Is Jason Bryant calling him "Ghetto" Petriashvili? Either that, or he is deep into using a country's own pronunciation of names, which is very respectful and adds to the exotic-ness of the Olympics. I thought Parris was a sure-fire medalist because only three heavyweights had a very good chance to beat him. I guess there were four. Plus, Parris almost beat Geno and has beaten Zare. Still, don't expect repechage, but congratulations on being an Olympian. Plus, Brooks and he are still ridiculously young, and heavyweights can have some longevity if they keep their heart in it. Kayla Miracle on the mat now!

The guy with the British accent doing track and field event commentary is drunk. He also seems to get drunker from day to day and hour to hour. That's pretty cool. I know we do lists of Americans wrestling for other countries, but we need a list of Russians wrestling for other countries before all world competitions. Failure to do this should result in a felony conviction. Of the remaining wrestlers, I'm looking forward most to Blades and Snyder. The big uns.

Dude was the Yakov Smirnoff of Scotland. Bless his soul. Cheers, D3!

Jordan Burroughs is a great announcer. Fantastic voice. Knowledgeable of course. Keeps the dialog rolling. The play-by-play guy is excellent as well. They know their stuff, and Burroughs even giving Greco love. Gotta love that! Beats the guy with the Scottish accent at the Pan Ams. LOL!